AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 113 



HOODED MERGANSER, 



A. O, U. No. 131. (Lophodytes cucuUatus.) 



RANGE. 



This Merganser is distributed throughout North America, although 

 in certain localities it is rather uncommon. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Length, 17 in.; extent, 25 in.; tail, 4 in. Bill, black. Eyes, yellow. 

 Feet, brown and webbed. Male: — Head with a beautiful, semicircular, 

 thin, disk-like crest, this crest being black and enclosing a large white 

 patch. Head, neck, back, wings and tail, black. Under parts, white. 

 Sides, reddish-brown, crossed by wavy black lines. Secondaries, len- 

 gthened and with a white stripe in the center. White patch on the cov- 

 erts. 



Female: — Crest, small and brown. Head, neck, back, wings, tail and 

 sides, brown, lightest on the head and neck. Small white bar on the 

 wing. Under parts, white. 



NEST AND EGGS. 



They nest in woody localities in the vicinity of water. A hollow in a 

 tree or stump is lined with grasses, leaves and down, and from nine to 

 fifteen eggs of a pearly white color are laid. The eggs are laid during 

 the latter part of May or June and the young when hatched are said to 

 be carried to the water in the bill of the female. 



Mr. James K. Thibault, Jr., has sent the following observations on 

 the Hooded Merganser in Arkansas: The beautiful Hooded Merganser 

 breeds in this locality, occasionally, but as a rule goes farther north to 

 nest. It begins its nesting earlier than most of the Ducks and is one 

 of the only two that breed here, the other being the Wood Duck. Like 

 the latter species it nests in trees, but seldom alights upon them. It 



